Pit bull seriously injures elderly Pasadena neighbor

An 89-year-old woman was seriously injured when a pit bull bit her on the arm in the backyard of her Pasadena home Wednesday afternoon, according to the Anne Arundel County Fire Department.

Animal control has confiscated and quarantined the dog for the time being, as is standard procedure after a dog bite, said Battalion Chief Steve Thompson, a fire spokesman. Police are investigating the incident, he said.

According to Thompson, emergency personnel responded to the 200 block of Arundel Road in the Riviera Beach community of Pasadena about 3:25 p.m. for a report of a dog bite and found the woman, who was not identified, in her backyard with a serious wound to her arm.

Preliminary evidence indicated the woman was standing at the fence in her backyard when her next-door neighbor's dog allegedly jumped up on the other side of the fence, so its front paws were on the top of the fence, and bit her, Thompson said.

"The dog bit her on her upper arm and did pretty significant damage," Thompson said.

The woman's wounds were considered non-life-threatening, but because of their severity, she was transported to the Curtis National Hand Center at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, Thompson said.

The center is renowned for its work repairing damaged extremities.

"Whenever you have an upper extremity that's really been damaged badly, they specialize in repairing that area," Thompson said.